Water powered back up sump pump

[Landon]

We bought a house this winter with a basement. I am searching my options for having a backup to our main sump pump. I would prefer to go with a water backup over a battery as I believe water would be more reliable for a multiday event. (ie we are out of town for a few days and our main pump fails). I am not overly concerned about a power outage while we are home, in that case I would just need a backup while I connect up our portable generator.

Does anyone have any experience with a water powered backup? Any recommendations on which one to get?

I've looked up a Liberty SJ10 and a Basepump online. Any others I am missing and should consider?

 

[hoosierdoc]

We have one. It is not as quick at removing water as a standard pump. If you get rapid water entry it may not keep up.

 

[Landon]

We have one. It is not as quick at removing water as a standard pump. If you get rapid water entry it may not keep up.

Do you know what brand you have? I've read the discharge will vary depending on water pressure coming in, I need to test and see what my pressure is. I don't think my water entry is to excessive, it might run every 10-15 minutes in times of heavy rain.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Friday morning I hadn't heard my sump pump kick on, so I popped the crawl-space access cover and checked to find 4 inches or so of water down there. I keep a spare pump and hose handy and I figured it was the end of the road for my original 17 year-old pump. After pumping it all out with the spare pump, I did discover that the only problem was a tripped GFI on the old pump and all I had to do was re-set it. I guess my old Wayne pump has some life left in it.

But, that adventure got me also to thinking about what I would do if there was a power outage during a rain. With a crawl space, there isn't as much concern as with a basement, but still I plan to do something. When the weather gets dry this summer, I am going to plumb in my spare pump with it's own float so that it will kick on automatically if the old one fails, and when I do that, I'm going to add a separate 1 1/2 inch line with a backflow valve into the sump and out through the block foundation. On the end of that I am going to put a quick-connect so I can connect a small gasoline powered pump if I need to. I'd only be pulling the water up a few feet and I could discharge it right into the plastic tile line that the sump pump is hooked up to. I have a whole-house generator, but the gasoline pump would give some redundancy.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Wire the second pump to a diff circuit if you can

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Wire the second pump to a diff circuit if you can

I think I will, good call.

 

[Cameramonkey]

And if you want more advanced notice get one of these. It will go into alarm as soon as the water gets out of control. Put the sensor at the top of the pit above the high water mark. That way as soon as the pump fails to keep up (or fails period) it will go into alarm.

WaterBug Alert water sensing products, Winland Electronics, Inc.

Or if you want to get really fancy and have it email you, this system has a water sensor.

Iris Home Monitoring System: Flexible, Affordable Options

 

[fst aslp]

I hav ethe base pump 750 i believe. We needed it one night last year and it kept up. I like not having to worry about batteries, although I do test it frequently to make sure all is well.

 

[17 squirrel]

Wire the second pump to a diff circuit if you can

I would suggest if you are going to do a separate circuit also make sure you use a breaker on the opposite side of the breaker panel so if you loose one of hot legs of your service you will still have one pump running.

 

[rockola1971]

Why not just put backup pump on a backup UPS (uninterruptible power supply) which consists of a inverter and 12vdc deep cycle batteries (2 or more wired in parallel). Turn on/off is still maintained by float switch of sump pump (if so equipped). Buy a inverter that is slightly larger (wattage rating) than pump wattage rating and then 2 or more deep cycle batteries which run around $70 or so each at walmart. Dont forget that you will also need a battery maintainer (battery charger) built for deep cycles which are fairly inexpensive.

Pump plugs (AC) into inverter, inverter is wired to batteries (DC). Switching action is provided by float switch on sump pump. Total cost around $200-$250 not including sump pump.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

And if you want more advanced notice get one of these. It will go into alarm as soon as the water gets out of control. Put the sensor at the top of the pit above the high water mark. That way as soon as the pump fails to keep up (or fails period) it will go into alarm.

WaterBug Alert water sensing products, Winland Electronics, Inc.

Or if you want to get really fancy and have it email you, this system has a water sensor.

Iris Home Monitoring System: Flexible, Affordable Options

I like the idea of a high water alarm, as long as it's just a light and not a piercing, shrieking alarm.

With a crawlspace, I would still have hours, if not days to deal with a failed sump pump, depending on how much it's raining. So, I don't think I want to be woke up in the middle of the night if it goes out, as long as I would discover it first thing in the morning.

 

[Sailor]

Run a separate exit pipe also for your back up. When it is really filling fast and your primary can not keep up, sharing an exit pipe will not help.

I don't have near the water pressure needed for water backup. Battery for me, and a few extra marine batteries on hand that I use for my radios as well.

If needed I can run the pump off an inverter tied directly to the battery not a cigarette lighter in the truck.

 

[ws6guy]

I cannot have a a water powered one at my house do to being on well water. I do have a battery backup that will run off of A/C if my main pump goes out and the power is still on. I also have a high water alarm in the pit that is wired to the house alarm. As a third measure I also have a generator to run the pumps in case the battery dies on the backup. I haven't done it yet but I plan on buying spare main pump so I can do an easy swap if need be.

 

[Landon]

Why not just put backup pump on a backup UPS (uninterruptible power supply) which consists of a inverter and 12vdc deep cycle batteries (2 or more wired in parallel). Turn on/off is still maintained by float switch of sump pump (if so equipped). Buy a inverter that is slightly larger (wattage rating) than pump wattage rating and then 2 or more deep cycle batteries which run around $70 or so each at walmart. Dont forget that you will also need a battery maintainer (battery charger) built for deep cycles which are fairly inexpensive.

Pump plugs (AC) into inverter, inverter is wired to batteries (DC). Switching action is provided by float switch on sump pump. Total cost around $200-$250 not including sump pump.

Personally I don't want to mess with the batteries. I want something I am confident in that if needed will be there and be able to operate for days at a time. I don't want to worry about if the battiers are still good and if they are holding a charge (bought to many batteries with a bad cell that had to be returned). I understand the maintainer is supposed to keep them fully charged, but if you lose power you lose your maintainer, then you only have left what life is in the battery. On top of that you say it would cost $200-250 plus the cost of a good sump pump.

The basepump 750 is $279 and comes with an alarm so you know when the main pump is not working and you are using the backup. With public water, I don't forsee ever losing it as a backup unless they would be doing some kind of maintenance on the line and in that situation they would give you plenty of notice.

Obviously I am leaning towards the basepump, just was wanted some real world feedback if anyone had it or anyone here was a plumber and could recommend it.

Basepump water powered backup sump pump » Basement Flood Prevention

 

[The Keymaster]

We run 2 pumps on 2 separate 1-1/2" exit lines at our house in Michigan. If I had to do it now, I would do it in 2". Both pump lines run underground into a septic type "coffin" 50 feet from the house. We have a VERY high water table in the spring. They will run simultaneously for a couple weeks each spring.

 

[Landon]

Purchase the Basepump 750 and got it installed today. Took me about four hours from start to finish to install. Looks like it will be a nice backup and I can sleep well knowing its there if needed.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I would suggest if you are going to do a separate circuit also make sure you use a breaker on the opposite side of the breaker panel so if you loose one of hot legs of your service you will still have one pump running.

[video=youtube;AHcjjxYbgNM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcjjxYbgNM[/video]